Brinsley Tyrrell

On Display2017Ceramics22" x 10" x 10"

(b. 1941 – Surrey, England)Throughout his prolific career, sculptor Brinsley Tyrrell, has created a body of work that is as varied as the mediums he uses. Working in everything from ceramics and plaster to bronze, stone, fiberglass, and enamels, Tyrrell creates works ranging from small scale drawings to large site-specific installations. Most recently, he has been working in ceramics, firing his pieces in a wood-fired kiln he built himself just outside his studio. Adorned with faces, painted figures, and carved patterns, and colored in the earthen tones inherent to woodfired ceramics, Tyrell’s vessels are reminiscent of ancient Roman pottery. Here he reworks and places familiar classical motifs of Bacchanalian engagements and social customs “on display,” as it were.

Tyrrell studied at the Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts at the University of London. His work can be found in numerous site-specific commissions and permanent collections, including at Kent State University, the Cleveland Botanical Gardens, Case Western Reserve University, and the Cincinnati Gas and Electric Company. He has received a number of prestigious awards, including the Governor’s Award for the Arts (2002) and Cleveland Arts Prize’s Lifetime Achievement for Visual Arts (2011). Tyrrell is Professor Emeritus of Art at Kent State University, where he was the head of the sculpture department for nearly two decades.

From the nominating artist:

I chose Brinsley Tyrrell because we’ve both been in the salt mines under Lake Erie for different exhibitions at SPACES and so I felt a sort of connection to him. He has a love of material that is evident in his work and I like how he experiments with material and process.